Unit 5: Free-Response Essays

18 terms. Say what each one means, then open the card to check.

• Synthesis essay

  The essay in which you argue your own position using evidence from a provided set of sources; on the exam the set has six texts, including visual and quantitative ones, and you cite at least three.

  Example. Arguing that a school should add a later lunch period, using a student survey, a cafeteria schedule and an interview with a cook as support.

• Citing a source

  Naming which source an idea or quotation comes from, for example with a parenthetical (Source B), whether you quote, paraphrase or summarize it.

  Example. “A later lunch would mean fewer skipped meals (Source A).” The parenthetical tells the reader which source backs the claim.

• Sources in conversation

  Using two or more sources together, showing where they agree, disagree or add to each other, rather than discussing each one alone.

  Example. Setting a survey in which students ask for a later lunch beside a cafeteria manager who warns of staffing limits, then weighing the two.

• Quantitative source

  A source built on numbers, such as a table, chart or graph; using it well means citing a specific value and saying what it shows.

  Example. Writing that a park’s trail counter logged 2,300 visits in June against 900 in January, not just that the chart “shows visits.”

• Paraphrase

  Restating a source’s idea in your own words, at about the same level of detail, and still crediting the source.

  Example. A source says “attendance nearly tripled on free-admission days”; a paraphrase says free days drew close to three times as many visitors (Source C).

• Rhetorical analysis essay

  The essay in which you explain how a nonfiction writer’s choices help the text achieve its purpose for its audience.

  Example. Explaining how a scientist’s plain words and personal story help win over a skeptical town council.

• Rhetorical situation

  The setting of a text: who is speaking, to whom, for what purpose, on what occasion, and what prompted it.

  Example. A principal (speaker) writes to parents (audience) after a bus crash (occasion) to reassure them that the routes are safe (purpose).

• Exigence

  The problem, event or need that prompts a writer to speak or write at a particular time.

  Example. A sudden rise in bus fares is the exigence for a student’s letter to the transit board.

• Analysis

  Explaining how and why a writer’s choices work on an audience, as opposed to summary, which retells what the text says.

  Example. Summary: the coach praises the team. Analysis: by praising effort first, the coach makes the team ready to hear the criticism that follows.

• Analytic verb

  A precise verb that names what a writer is doing, such as concedes, contrasts, invokes or reframes, in place of a vague verb such as says.

  Example. “The senator concedes the cost before reframing it as an investment” says far more than “The senator says it costs money.”

• Argument essay

  The essay in which you take and defend a position on an issue, using evidence from your own reading, observation and experience.

  Example. Arguing that cities should keep public pools open late in summer, using examples from your own town and news you have read.

• Defensible thesis

  A claim that takes a position a reasonable person could disagree with and that the essay can support with evidence.

  Example. “Schools should start no earlier than 8:30” is defensible; “Some schools start at 7:30” is only a fact.

• Line of reasoning

  The chain of claims, in a sensible order, that leads a reader from the thesis to its conclusion.

  Example. Cheaper transit helps workers reach jobs; more workers reaching jobs helps local shops; so cheaper transit helps the whole town.

• Evidence

  The specific facts, examples, observations or data that support a claim; specific evidence persuades better than general statements.

  Example. “The library’s Saturday hours drew 400 visitors” is evidence; “lots of people like the library” is not specific.

• Commentary

  Your explanation of how a piece of evidence supports your claim: the because or so that connects them.

  Example. After citing the 400 visitors: “That crowd shows the town wants weekend access, so cutting Saturdays would hurt the people the library serves most.”

• Counterargument

  A reasonable objection to your position, which you state fairly and then answer.

  Example. In an essay for later school start times: “Critics say later dismissal will push sports practice into the evening.”

• Rebuttal

  Your answer to a counterargument, showing why your position still holds; it often begins after a concession that grants the objection some truth.

  Example. “Practices may run later, but a rested athlete trains better than an exhausted one.”

• Qualification

  A limit or condition you place on your own claim, which makes it more precise and easier to defend.

  Example. “Public libraries should open on Sundays, at least in neighborhoods with no other quiet place to study.”